Hostage-takers simply surrender, police say

BINTANGNEWS.com
–A
pair of men who had taken a family of four hostage in their home in Pondok
Indah, South Jakarta, surrendered after hundreds of police officers surrounded
the house on Saturday morning.

There was no need to
use firearms as the two hostage-takers simply surrendered to overwhelming
police force, said Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto at the Jakarta
Police headquarters on Saturday.

“The perpetrators had
tried to create a scenario where there was nothing untoward in the house,
ordering the members of the family to pretend that they were relatives of the
family,” said Moechgiyarto as reported by a television station.

The two suspects are
currently being detained in the Jakarta Police headquarters for further
investigation.

The incident occurred
at a house on Jl. Bukit Hijau, Pondok Pinang subdistrict, Kebayoran Lama. The
house is owned by a former oil company executive.

In the incident, five
people were taken hostage, a husband and wife and their two children, as well
as a domestic worker. The servant managed to escape at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday
and raised the alarm.

Police are still
investigating to motive of the incident but for the time being it is believed
that the motive behind the hostage-taking was robbery, said Mochgiyarto, adding
that the robbers were armed and had tried to hide the weapons but they were
discovered by police officers.***